The vast majority of user engagement with the Internet, especially for the average individual, is through webpages and websites. A website is a set of related webpages served from a single web domain, and is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet address known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). All publicly accessible websites collectively constitute the World Wide Web. Each webpage is a document, typically written in plain text interspersed with formatting instructions in a language, e.g. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML, XHTML). Webpages may incorporate elements from other websites with suitable markup anchors as well as links to other webpages on the same website or other websites, the latter being typically accessed via hypertext links.
In order to view information, a user launches an application, often referred to as a web browser, and navigates to a webpage through a search or a stored link. The web browser renders the page content according to its HTML markup instructions onto a display terminal, where the content and HTML markup instructions have been transported with the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which may optionally employ encryption (HTTP Secure, HTTPS) to provide security and privacy for the user of the webpage content. The URLs of the pages organize them into a hierarchy, although hyperlinking between them conveys the reader's perceived site structure and guides the reader's navigation of the site which generally includes a home page with most of the links to the site's web content, and a supplementary about, contact and link page. However, irrespective of the content, the structure, the website, of every single webpage on every single website has to be generated. Whilst, some webpages may display results from searches, these search results are webpages or portions of webpages. With an estimated 200 million active websites, that is a vast amount of human resources applied to the design, layout, and configuration of those webpages.
At present, creating a website generally involves two primary jobs, the web designer and the web developer, who often work closely together on a website. The web designer would typically be responsible for the visual aspect, which includes the layout, coloring, and typography of a webpage, while a web developer may be responsible for the technical aspects of the website and its function. For example, a web developer may use a variety of coding languages such as HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript, PHP (a server-side scripting language), and Flash to create a site and its functionality. Particularly, in smaller organizations, one person will need the necessary skills for designing and programming the full webpage, while larger organizations may have a web designer responsible for the visual aspect alone. In other particular circumstances, other individuals may become involved during the creation of a website including, for example, graphic designers (to create visuals for the site such as logos, layouts and buttons), Internet marketing specialists (who help maintain web presence through strategic solutions targeting viewers), search engine optimizers (SEOs), who research/recommend website language to increase website visibility on search engines), Internet copywriters (to create the written content), and user experience (UX) designers (who address end-user design considerations).
As a result, establishing a website whilst being a major, often vital, element of an enterprise's or organization's strategy, can be an expensive proposition which is not helped by the need to support both desktop and mobile users as well as potentially supporting multiple languages to address users in different geographical regions. Due to the lower bandwidth, reduced display capabilities, and typically lower processor capabilities, a mobile webpage/website is generally less complex and less graphically intensive than a desktop webpage/website.
Accordingly, over the past decade whilst professional design tools for webpages/websites have improved, a parallel development has occurred that is geared for the individual, the smaller enterprise, etc. wherein they can design and implement a website and its webpages through the use of templates that are pre-configured, thereby removing the requirements of the user to understand web design and development tools. In many instances, these are discrete third party services but increasingly these are bundled as part of an overall package from specialty web-site development and hosting businesses.
However, this leaves the user with essentially two options. The first, with full creative control and flexibility is to exploit web developers and website development enterprises to generate exactly what they want. The second is to select a template from those offered by web-site development and hosting businesses and work within its constraints. The former is typically suited to established enterprises that can justify the marketing budget and quantify the return on investment whilst the latter is typically employed by small and new enterprises, individuals, etc., to establish a web presence without incurring significant costs for unknown return on investment. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide users with the ability to establish a webpage and/or website with a design that they want within a platform technology that they find easy and intuitive to use.
It would be further beneficial for a user, when generating their webpage(s) and/or website(s) to be able to rapidly edit and have those edits available online once they have been completed rather than awaiting their service provider's upload of modified content. It would be further beneficial for the user to be able to rapidly add extended features to their website. Moreover, it may be beneficial to be able to create and host a website on a server-less platform, such that the design and function of a website is maintained in a cloud environment. Finally, it may further be beneficial if a user may integrate a software platform technology to link various other devices and processes that could be individually controlled, programmed and/or triggered in a singular or cascading fashion.
As outlined below, the present inventors provide for a cell-based computing and web development platform that addresses the shortcoming and problems with traditional systems described above.